Los Angeles Angels: The Return of Albert Pujols

Los Angeles Angels first baseman, Albert Pujols had an emotional return to St. Louis during this weekend’s series.

Los Angeles Angel, Albert Pujols, did something for the first time in the last 8 years.  He played a series at Busch Stadium, the home of his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The way the crowd cheered when Pujols stepped to the plate for the first time you knew that this was going to be a celebration of the man they call “The Machine.”  The cheers grew so loud that the game stopped as he took a curtain call.

Take a look for yourself:

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There were no boo-birds nastily cat-calling Pujols for leaving to the Los Angeles Angels or not being on their team anymore.  Instead, they cheered the man who helped bring two World Series titles, in 2006 and 2011 to the city.  In his 11 seasons in St. Louis, he had a slash line of .328/.420/.617 with 445 home runs and 1,329 RBI’s.

Pujols had a successful series at the plate going 4-for-12 with a home run and an RBI.  His team lost the series, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell based on the grin he sported and the way the crowd cheered for him.

When he hit his home run the crowd cheered as if he had hit a walk-off home run in game 7 of the World Series.

For me, it was refreshing to see the return of a star player to his original team and the treatment he received.  Maybe because it was 8 years ago, I don’t remember how his free agency went, whether there was some controversy or if it was a mutual parting.

I have seen how some fans have treated returning stars after they spurned their team for what they assumed were greener pastures.

I would challenge all fans everywhere to treat former players the way the St. Louis Cardinals treated Albert Pujols over the weekend.  It was exactly the way it should be, a celebration of what that player meant to that organization and that city for 11 years.  Thank you St. Louis for showing us how to treat former players.